Mountaineers’ Home Opener

On September 18th The West Orange Mountaineers had their first home opener against the Irvington Blue Knights. The resulting score was a devastating loss of 28-7.

As the kickoff proceeded, vibrations coming off of the dark blue bleachers could be felt as spectators excitedly hooted and hollered. From the opening return, Irvington quarterback, Brandon Robinson and running-back Mu’dah Abdus-Salaam seemed to be put in check by the West Orange defense. Not passing or running for much, the Mountaineers maintained a comfortable stance on defense. Then, a facemask penalty cost West Orange 15 yards and built up the momentum for a red zone pass from Robinson to the 1 and sneaked it in for 6. The second quarter had already been in play for a while when Abdus-Salaam busted out a 50-yard rush, which was followed moments later by a second Robinson score, and just like that, the Mountaineers found themselves in a 14-0 hole.

The mountaineer crowd was only ever silent or mad with their team’s performance. However, the mood of the West Orange fans quickly altered when an interception by safety Jordan White was returned to the 31. From there, WO-Town signal caller Vincent DeSantis threw a touchdown pass to receiver Mike Giovine from deep and just like that, they had themselves a game. The next quarter featured some similar turnovers by both teams’ passers and was eventually ended by the seemingly-unstoppable rushing of Abdus-Salaam, who grabbed some points of his own, making the score 20-7.

Rushing was the name of the game for the Blue Knights, as they feverishly pounded the rock with their premier runner, who managed to grab a second touchdown in the waning minutes, closing the game out at 28-7. The next home match for the Mountaineers will be on October 6th, when they face off against Morristown. Go West Orange!